Essential Skills for Remote Teams for Design Collaboration
Hello, I am Shimooka of mct’s Design Insight Unit.
This time, I would like to look back on “Class 1: Design Collaboration” from the DMN Design Training held this summer at DMN (Design Management Network) operated by mct.
DMN Design Training is a practical six-session course on the process of Design Thinking. In the first session, participants learned the mindset that is the premise of a Design Thinking project and tips for project progress.
Changing Work Styles Makes Collaborative Problem Solving Become Essential
Behind the theme of “design collaboration” is the shift from “routine work within department” to “cross-departmental or collaborative project work with external partners,” and the fact that “problem solving through collaboration” has become indispensable.
When we took a survey with all the participants, we found out that about 80% of their work involves collaboration in the above manner. Design Thinking, in which members share a common goal of “customer-centric” and work together toward that goal, is a way of thinking that fits well when encouraging collaboration among people from various backgrounds.
Experience the mindset and processes necessary for collaboration in a workshop format
This year’s event consisted of two parts: a lecture part to convey the mindset that promotes design collaboration, and a workshop-style part where participants experienced the “divergence” and “convergence” processes of design thinking.
The lecture provided key points for collaboration in the hybrid era of remote and real world. First of all, if there are members who participate remotely, project design would be based on the idea of “remote first”. Also, now the way teams are disbanded after the team is formed for each project is changing, so fostering necessary “culture code setting” and “psychological safety” is another important point.
In the workshop, participants were divided into teams to experience the process of insight search, idea generation, and idea creation. The use of “visual thinking,” in which ideas are visualized for understanding and sharing, and “frameworks” were used to help participants feel the breadth of their thinking and the expansion of their perspectives. We were glad to hear participants comment that they realized the importance of the “psychological safety” that we conveyed in the lecture, saying, “I realized that affirmation of ideas creates better discussions” and “I was able to think freely in an environment where ideas are affirmed.”
Participants’ questions led to our own learning
After the class, we received many questions, including those related to “how to encourage active participation in projects,” “how to formulate questions,” and “how to converge ideas.” As we thought about the answers, we were able to re-think the reasons for things we usually take for granted and catch a glimpse of what other mct members are practicing, which was a learning experience for me and my team as well.
The DMN training will be held again next year. What will our working environment be like a year from now? Perhaps we are in a more remote era, or perhaps we are feeling the advantages of real life more strongly. Either way, the trend of “people from various backgrounds collaborating and working together” is likely to continue to advance. We would like to brush up the contents of this seminar, incorporating the essence of the changing times. We would be very happy if you would join us for a learning experience.
For more information on our overall DMN Design Training program, please refer to this blog.
Originally written in Japanese by Mana Shimooka, posted at mct’s Blog: https://media.mctinc.jp/blog/20220928
